Assessing adolescent spiritual health and well-being (commentary related to Social Science & Medicine – Population Health, ref: SSMPH-D-15-00089)

Over the last three decades, rapidly increasing interest has been shown, and a great growth has occurred in publications and new journals, related to assessing spiritual health and well-being. Most attention has been paid to university students (many of whom participate in research projects to gain credit points) and adults, many of whom have been in poor states of health. However, assessment of spiritual health of younger adolescents has received less attention, with pertinent publications in journals such as the International Journal of Children's Spirituality (Büssing, FöllerMancini, Gidley, & Heusser, 2010; Fisher, 2006; Yuen, 2015), other journals (Muñoz-García & Aviles-Herrera, 2014; Rican & Janosova, 2010; Shorkey & Windsor, 2010) and books (Francis & Robbins, 2005; Hughes, 2007; Roehlkepartain, Benson, Scales, Kimball, & King, 2008), and some unpublished works (Mason, Singleton, & Webber, 2007; WHOQOL SRPB Group, 2002, Wallace, 2010). The relative paucity of research with youth could be due to increased ethical demands of gaining parental permission and that of school systems and staff, as well as that from young people themselves. Developing instruments with language that is appropriate for young people has also provided a challenge. Spiritual well-being is a complex concept. Building on growing interest in health and the influence of positive psychology, an initial working definition of ‘spiritual well-being’ was made, in the United States by the National Interfaith Coalition on Aging, as ‘the affirmation of life in a relationship with God, self, community and environment that nurtures and celebrates wholeness’ (NICA, 1975). Subsequent studies have expanded on this framework definition to investigate more fully the four sets of relationships that are seen to comprise spiritual well-being (Hay & Nye, 1998; Fisher, 1998).